Support for Louisiana.

The state we're in is provided by.

Every day I go to work for Entergy.

I know customers are counting on me.

So Entergy is investing millions of dollars to keep the lights on and installing new technology to prevent outages before they happen.

Together, together, together.

We power life.

Additional support provided by the Fred Bea and Ruth Ziegler Foundation and the Ziegler Art Museum located in Jennings City Hall.

The museum focuses on emerging Louisiana artists and is an historical and cultural center for southwest Louisiana and the Foundation for Excellence in Louisiana Public Broadcasting.

With support from viewers like you.

People feel like they have a high rate of cancer because of where they live.

The EPA offers hope for a cleaner future.

You know, this is a really unique experience.

A look at expressions of America.

We can do both.

We can be clean and use our own energy.

Another case for Louisiana and clean energy.

We're eliminating that stigma about reaching out.

Louisiana's crisis hotline seeing an influx of callers.

Hi, everyone.

I'm care sincere.

And I'm Andre Moreau.

A Louisiana grand jury began hearing evidence this week in the deadly arrest of Ronald Green.

He died in custody of Louisiana state police on the side of the road outside of Monroe.

That was three and a half years ago.

Yeah.

The panel is expected to hear from several witnesses before determining whether state charges will be brought against the trooper seen on very disturbing body camera video, stun gunning, striking and dragging green by his ankle shackles following a high speed chase.

The state hearing was delayed for months by an ongoing FBI investigation into allegations of an attempted cover up.

And now let's look at some other news headlines across the state.

Public schools across the state have shown slight improvement in key achievement tests this year, bringing scores back up to where they were before the COVID 19 pandemic.

Louisiana's performance score is now ranked to a low be in math, English, science and social studies.

Three out of four schools and districts showed drops in their school performance scores during the 2020 2021 school year, which many believed to be the result of long stretches of remote learning for students.

Republican Senator John Kennedy announced Monday that he's giving serious consideration to entering the 2023 Louisiana governor's race.

He announced his potential gubernatorial run a week after his reelection for a second six years.

Senator Kennedy raised $36 million in campaign funds this election, which is ten times as much as his Democratic challengers combined.

State officials announced last week that juvenile jails across the state are at full capacity, not currently, except new teen offenders.

In addition to a lack of capacity, Louisiana's juvenile justice system has struggled for years with understaffing, security and a surge in violent outbursts inside lockups.

The Office of Juvenile Justice requested that judges begin releasing some low risk teens back to their communities.

Senate Democrats are advancing legislation this week to legally recognize same sex and interracial marriages nationwide.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer held a test vote Wednesday, expecting at least ten Republicans to vote in favor with all 50 Democrats.

The bill has been building momentum since the Supreme Court's decision that overturned Roe versus Wade in June.

And the EPA is granting Louisiana over $2 million to clean up the air in certain parts of the state.

We're ranked second for the highest rate of new cancer cases, according to Tulane University.

Some of those cases are linked to air pollution.

Which recipients of this grant intend to clear up?

One such recipient is Mary Lee or the executive director of the Louisiana Environment Action Network.

She's here with us today.

Thank you so much for joining me.

Thank you.

I'm honored to be.

All right.

So the EPA granted over to me.

Like I just said and that is for it's going to a few Louisiana organizations.

But let's backpedal a little bit.

You know, that's supposed to help with air pollution.

But first, can you tell me where we see the most air pollution in our state?

I think we have a prime example in the chemical corridor people refer to as a cancer alley.

There's a lot of industry and a lot of people all together and close spaces.

And then I think if you go over to Lake Charles, which is where another grant has been given, there's a high concentration as well.

So there's been a lot of national attention on Cancer Alley.

But can you explain in your words, what exactly is Cancer Alley?

What does that mean?

What it means or what it started out is the union was a had a lockout and they put up banners up called Welcome to Cancer Alley, welcome to Bhopal on the Bayou, but welcome to Cancer Alley stuck.

And people feel like they have a high rate of cancer because of where they live.

And particularly low income minority communities feel they have a higher rate than anyone else.

Why?

Because of where they live.

I mean, where do they live?

What's causing this?

Fenceline communities, they live right next to industries.

And it's a very complicated space to be in.

And I think statistically what they've been saying since the eighties, since I've been doing this, this is coming true.

And people are saying it studies what people have been saying.

Yeah, anecdotally and I got involved because my son was born with the lung disease in the eighties and I realize the air here in Baton Rouge was unhealthy to breathe 17 times a year.

They told me he might be blind, deaf, brain damaged, certainly have several palsy and I have a full miracle.

But they had to follow him for three years of the neck unit.

And then I started going into black communities and I was hearing about high rates of asthma, adult onset of asthma, and all these other many, many symptoms that people have.

So it's not just cancer, too, I want to say.

It's also a quality of life issues.

Quality of life issues.

And I mean, you mentioned this earlier, but, you know, in areas that are like Cancer Alley, I mean, that's disproportionately affecting people of color.

People that are, you know, making less money.

Correct.

All right.

So, you know, why is this project so impactful for communities like those and really the entire state of Louisiana?

I'm so excited about it.

I think it can be transformative.

I've been waiting for this to in myself as a mother for 30 something years.

We did not have a tool to actually see what was happening real time in a community, we have specific monitors that a government or industry might have, that we might not necessarily have access to the information.

But in our project, you're going to be able to say real to see real time what's happening in your community and what you're being exposed to.

I am so excited.

I actually call them not very scientific.

Harry Potter car.

They're actually two cars that will be driving up and down the corridor, will be hiring local people, which is a wonderful thing as well.

And actually seen in real time, which you're being exposed to.

I do not know.

We've never had anything like this before.

So can you tell I'm excited?

Yes, I can definitely tell.

You're excited.

And you know, to the language of this grant, it's talking about air monitoring.

So that is the air monitoring actually going out in specific places and just showing people this is what you're breathing in.

Yes.

But actually, we're building out from the beginning.

We're going to have air quality education workshops.

We're going to have community hubs.

We're going to be educating our leadership people in communities just like I am, mom, grandma, whatever worker doesn't matter.

And then we're going to go into this block by block, air collection, data collection, which has never been done before.

And we actually are hoping we're going to bring sectors together, meaning like industry and docu and people discussing this and how do we resolve this problem?

How do we live together and have it be a healthy place?

So in your mind, I mean, in a perfect world, what would be the right way to go about this?

What's the best way to monitor air pollution and just really get those numbers down?

I think this is the beginning of doing that and I think it's a work in progress.

So I hope you're going to have me back because no one's ever done this before in Louisiana.

So we're really, really excited.

So we're going to be discovering, too, what are the highest levels of a toxic chemical?

Where are they coming from?

Or if there's a leak, are we able to inform the people quicker through the government, etc.?

So I think it has to be in some ways cooperative even though we're independent from the AQ, etc.. All right, so I've got another question and then I'll let you go.

Oh, that's no, I love visiting with you.

Is there like a specific chemical or pollutant that you're looking for in the air?

I wish there was.

I truly wish there was.

We have a true gumbo of toxic chemicals in Louisiana.

People in the rest of the country depend on what we manufacture.

So.

But the price that we pay is the burden of these chemicals.

So we need to get that.

They need to be a good neighbor and not put their pollution out on people.

And also that includes workers.

We don't workers to be exposed as well.

So this is the beginning, a beginning of a big step that took 30 something years to get to.

There was no technology like this before.

So acclimate is the company that we're partnering with and they're out of California and they're the ones who have the, as I said, Harry Potter cars that they're not very technical, but they're pretty magical.

Well, it sounds like there are some really exciting things going on in Louisiana that you are going to be a part of.

So thank you so much for coming in and sharing all of that.

It's been an honor and a privilege and I'm looking forward to giving you updates.

Thank you for having me.

All right.

Thank you, Mary Lee.

Thank you.

Other organizations involved in this project are Elder CU, LSU Health Foundation, Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, Inc., and of course, the Louisiana Environmental Action Network.

And Baton Rouge based energy company G2 Net zero is seeking $15 billion.

That's billion with a B for a project to produce liquefied natural gas while capturing the emissions.

CEO Chaz Roemer spoke to the Baton Rouge Press Club this week.

He says investors are wary of anything that requires a long term commitment to fossil fuels, but that they have proven technology to take a fossil fuel and eliminate the emissions.

Here's more of what he told the Press Club.

One of the problems with politics is we try to give we give people false choices.

And the choices that we've been given in energy is you can either be clean or you can be affordable, wrong.

You can be both clean and affordable and you can use U.S. resources.

Why doesn't anybody say it?

All companies don't say it.

You won't know why they don't say it.

They're never they've never made more money than they're making today.

They don't like to hear my speech.

I've given this speech.

I gave this speech in Milan, Italy.

And you would think I was the biggest skunk in the room.

This was at a gas conference.

Now, let me tell you the other problem with the policy.

Not only is it making energy on unaffordable, and not only is it making us rely again on foreign people, foreign sources, foreign governments, corrupt governments to provide us energy.

Because of these policies, guess what we use more of?

In the last 12 months in North America and in the last 12 months in the world than we have in any year in the previous 15 years.

Guess what we use more of this year, this last 12 months, coal, the world use more coal in the last 12 months that in any moment in the last 15 years, the policy we have in energy is so backwards, is leading to the opposite result.

We want it.

We're getting higher prices, less energy and more pollution.

Thank you very much.

There is technology that exists today.

It exists today.

And I'm being selfish here because my company is part of it.

There's technology that exists today that allows me to take natural gas, which we have an abundance of in Louisiana, in America.

I can take natural gas.

And without getting into the chemistry and the physics, because I'm neither I'm neither chemist or physicist.

I can take natural gas, put in a turbine that has technology attached to it, that captures 100% of the emissions.

If we try to talk with one more next week to hear more about this company and the other global energy innovators that they partner with.

In 98 is Louisiana's Suicide and crisis Lifeline meant to help those suffering from mental illness?

The line has seen a sudden spike this month leading up to the holidays.

I sit with Robin Thomas, the suicide prevention coordinator with the Louisiana Department of Health, and I talk with her about the uptick in callers.

98 is Louisiana's suicide crisis lifeline.

And this time of year, it seems like there's more people that are calling.

Is that normal?

Well, we are seeing an increase from last year.

98 was launched on July 16th of 2022.

Prior to that, we did not have entire state coverage for Louisiana for Lifeline calls.

So with 98, we were able to bring in to Certified Lifeline crisis centers to respond to Lifeline calls for the state of Louisiana.

We are seeing that more people are reaching out to Lifeline, and that's a good thing.

That means that more people are becoming aware of the service that it's available and then they're connecting to the service.

We want to make sure that we're increasing awareness of nine, eight, eight, because that helps to reduce stigma and increase seeking help seeking behavior for individuals.

We want to make sure we're sending the message that it's okay if you're not feeling okay and if you're not, we want you to reach out.

And when you reach out, you'll be met by a trained, competent, compassionate crisis counselor who's trained in crisis intervention and suicide prevention.

And they'll work with that caller to try and de-escalate that call on the phone.

They'll help collaborate with the caller in ways that make them feel better, provide support to them, and then connect them to local resources in the area.

All right.

So that influx in callers doesn't necessarily mean that there is a mental health crisis that's developing right now.

That's absolutely correct.

It could mean that people are becoming more aware of the service and they're using the service, and that's exactly what we want to happen.

So I know that it's called the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, but I mean, what are people calling it specifically for?

People call in for various reasons.

And one of our crisis centers is a blended 211 center, which is information referral services.

A lot of the calls, you know, are anxiety, depression.

We want to clarify that it's called My Suicide Crisis Lifeline.

But it's for anyone that's experiencing any type of emotional distress, it can be a mental health crisis, a substance use crisis, or any type of emotional or suicide crisis.

If you're anxious, stress feeling, stress, just sad, lonely.

What we found is that a lot of people just need a listening ear.

And when they call nine, eight, eight, a lot of times those calls can be de-escalated on the call without any further resources.

So what are the callers trends?

Are we seeing older people call this line?

Is that younger people who's primarily calling in?

Everyone we're seeing we are seeing an increase in youth reaching out to the line.

So we have seen an increase in that.

So is it texting as well?

Can you text this line?

Well, right now you can text and chat in.

That will be answered at the National back up.

Right now, chat and text is not being answered in Louisiana.

We're working closely with our crisis centers in Louisiana to prepare their readiness to respond to chat and text.

We plan to have a a soft launch in December of chat and texts.

There will be limited access, I believe will be from 7 to 1 p.m. until we can really monitor what that demand is going to be.

We are seeing an increase in state demand for chat and text, so we are seeing the demand data that's coming in.

So we know the demand is there.

We're going to work with the crisis centers to make sure that they have enough staff and capacity to respond to that demand.

So usually during the holidays you hear stories about, you know, mental health, flare ups, domestic violence, all of these things.

Are you guys anticipate adding an increase in call volume during the holidays with the holidays?

We you know, we really want to make sure that we're being proactive and really promoting the prevention piece of mental health, making sure people are taking care of themselves.

We know that stress is a big part.

You know, the holidays.

Grieving people have lost loved ones, financial strains, workloads.

So we really want to focus on the suicide or mental health prevention piece around the holidays.

It is a myth that, you know, suicide rates increase during the holidays.

We usually see our peaks in the spring months, April through August.

But we do know that people, you know, do struggle with mental health during those times.

So we definitely want to make sure that we offer that support and the lifeline will be there for them to call.

We are working with our crisis centers to increase their capacity to staff up for the increases in call volume.

So, you know, they will be ready to receive those calls.

Is there anything else that anybody should know about this lifeline?

We really just want to make sure that, you know, we are promoting nine, eight, eight and the lifeline and making sure that, you know, we're eliminating that stigma about reaching out and that, you know, a lot of Americans do struggle with mental health and that, you know, there is hope recovery is possible, but you have to reach out.

You have to reach out for help.

And we just want to encourage people to do that.

And that's what 98 is.

All right.

Well, thank you so much.

Anyone is welcome to call the night lifeline.

A new call center was just added, which means more calls will be answered.

And America's World War Two museum in New Orleans opened.

Expressions of America last week.

All I can say is get your tickets.

It is a must see.

This is a first of a kind, nighttime, sound and light experience that celebrates the power of everyday Americans and their impact on the world around them during a time of monumental conflict.

World War Two is CEO Steven Watson joins me now from New Orleans.

I'm so excited to talk to you because seeing all of the video and the promotions for this made me really want to go there myself as quickly as I can.

One reason I say it's a larger than life.

It's one of the biggest things is because there is so much to see.

Explain what the visitor experience will be.

Well, thank you, Andre.

And we're excited to you know, this is a really unique experience.

As you said, this is a nighttime outdoor sound and light show that will be projected here on the facades of the buildings on our campus, you know, some of them up to 90 feet tall.

So you will be immersed in the music, the photos, the footage, and most importantly, the personal thoughts and feelings of the men and women of World War Two.

Just about all of the spoken word and expressions of America is taken from their letters and their diaries that were written during the war.

So it's this big epic show, but it's also very personal and very poignant, and we're just thrilled to be finally bringing this to the public.

I'm thinking about the talent and the time and the effort and the organization that went into putting this installation permanent installation, together for people to see.

It's been an amazing journey.

We have been working on this for almost five years now and we have a really amazing team.

Our media production partners, that Mousetrap, which is the media producer out of California.

They're just the best in the world at these nighttime spectaculars.

They have been fantastic here.

Locally, we have an original musical score.

We worked closely with the legendary Preservation Hall Jazz Band and other local musicians to record that original musical score right here in New Orleans at the Esplanade studios.

And then, of course, our curators and content experts, you know, scour through literally thousands of letters and documents to to find these personal stories and these moments in these materials that really help our our guests to expressions connect with real people in an authentic way.

So it's been quite a journey.

It's interesting to see, of course, the Bob and Dolores Hope Foundation has been a major contributor to this.

But Bob Hope, when you think of him, his talents and his time and what he did for servicemen and women over the years is phenomenal.

Absolutely.

This show would not exist without the support of the Bob and Dolores Hope Foundation.

They they signed on early to this.

You know, they wanted a way, an innovative way for new generations of Americans to meet Bob Hope.

You know, I would argue Bob Hope, one of the most significant entertainers of the 20th century, entertained for, I think, 11 million troops over five decades and early in his career during World War Two.

Most people don't realize this often put himself in harm's way to do that.

What's fascinating is that as time goes by, fewer and fewer of the present day really know who he is and know the experience.

And that's one thing that this among many will do, because it will bring this to the present for everybody who will see it.

That's right.

And I think that's one of the things that we're excited about with expressions of America.

It's using this technology, these stunning visuals in a really unique format and setting to surprise people and connect with people and really broaden the appeal of the museum.

And I think that's something that we've always taken seriously here at the museum to be relevant, to appeal to a broad audience, we have to use all of the tools at our disposal and we think expressions is going to do that.

So new generations of Americans will get to meet Bob Hope and all of the other individuals in the show.

David, your grandfather was a Royal Air Force pilot in World War Two.

So this is something you grew up, I would guess, knowing more about than the average person?

Well, you know, yes, my grandfather was a pilot, but like like many people, I wish I had asked more questions.

I wish I had paid more attention.

You know, he passed 23 years ago.

But I know this had a major impact on his life.

And like many, you know, Americans, I grew up in Scotland, but like, you know, different.

He probably hadn't been more than 50 miles away from home.

And here he finds himself, you know, a year later, you know, on another continent, training to be a pilot.

So it's it's personal.

It's personal for many of us here.

We think that this is, you know, one of the biggest and most important stories in human history.

And it's really a privilege to to be a part of it.

And it's a privilege, I think, for all of us to have it here in Louisiana and in New Orleans as the National World War Two Museum.

Yeah, absolutely.

You know, I could talk to you for hours.

We don't have that time.

But thank you so much for giving us some of this information about this terrific exhibit.

And all people need to do is go to expressions of America dot org for tickets and more information.

Great.

Thank you, Andre.

Come back and see us soon.

Thank you, David.

LSU has its senior night tomorrow night in Tiger Stadium and the final home game of the season against UAB.

They got past Arkansas this past weekend to wrap up the West Division of the SEC, largely thanks to superstar freshman linebacker Harold Perkins.

I mean, the fact that LSU won the West and will face Georgia for the SEC championship is one of college football's biggest stories of the year.

Yeah, one of the biggest turnarounds of the year.

Under first year coach Brian Kelly, LSU got no preseason love and at mid-season.

They had no expectations of very much after that blowout loss to Tennessee.

Now they're number six and a genuine contender for the college football playoff spot.

One victory at a time.

I mean, I'm still on a cloud after the Alabama game.

Most of the state is.

That's our show, everyone, for this week.

Remember, you can watch anything, help any time, wherever you are.

With our help PBS app, you.

Can catch LP News and Public Affairs shows as well as other Louisiana programs you've come to enjoy over the years.

And please like us on Facebook, Twitter, Tik-Tok, and, of course, Instagram.

For everyone at Louisiana Public Broadcasting, I'm Andre Mora.

And I'm Cara Sings here until.

Next time.

That's the state we're at.

Every day I go to work for Entergy.

I know customers are counting on me.

So Entergy is investing millions of dollars to keep the lights on and installing new technology to prevent outages before they happen.

Together, together, together.

We power life.

Additional support provided by the Fred Bea and Ruth B Zeigler Foundation and the Zeigler Art Museum, located in Jennings City Hall.

The museum focuses on emerging Louisiana artists and is an historical and cultural center for Southwest Louisiana and the Foundation for Excellence in Louisiana Public Broadcasting.

With support from viewers like you.